


[REDACTED]

by Bitch_In_The_Blue



Series: Full Disclosure [3]
Category: Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto Series (Video Games), Grand Theft Auto V
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Abusive Relationships, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Babysitting, Controlling partner, Corrupt police, Developing Friendships, Disabled Protagonist, F/F, F/M, Family Drama, First Meetings, Friendship, Hiding From Police, Jealousy, Mention of dead characters, Moving On, Multi, Murder, Mutual Pining, Online Friendship, Organized Crime, Police Brutality, Possessive Behavior, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Pregnancy, Revenge, Running from Police, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, gang affiliations, implied romantic feelings, mute protaonist, new relationships, pan protagonist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-05-27 05:05:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15017261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bitch_In_The_Blue/pseuds/Bitch_In_The_Blue
Summary: Redact: To censor or obscure part of a text for legal or security purposes.The unknown, undocumented origins of 'Nona'.A story only she knows from start to finish.





	1. Free Ride

_Liberty City, 2008._  
_New Years Eve_ _  
__  
_ With The Triangle live on TV, Raven Duponte sat in the living room with her family. The countdown to 2009 was minutes away.  
It had been a fascinating year, to say the least.  
Raven had made new friends-- none of which her family liked. Ashley the junkie for example. Then there was her friend who regularly visited the bar she favored. Went by “Claude” and was mute, as she was. She and Claude never spent time together out of the bar- didn’t deem it necessary. He did, however, recommend visiting a support group for her mutism.  
“Hey Ma, can I get a glass of that?” Francis, Raven’s younger brother asked, motioning to the bottle of champagne in his mother’s hand.  
Regina Duponte gave her son the side-eye. He was nineteen and asking to drink. “Are you gonna ask me for more if I say yes?”  
“Just the one,” he said, already grabbing an empty champagne flute off of the coffee table and holding it out.  
Regina often gave in to what her kids wanted. “Fiiiine!” She groaned, “But don’t come cryin’ to me if you wanna throw up afterward. You already ate your dinner and if you lose it, I’m not makin’ more.”  
“C’mon, Ma, I don’t get sick that easy,” Francis beamed as Regina poured his glass of bubbly. He had been drunk before-- Raven was the only one who knew.  
“Hey, they’re starting the countdown!” Chandler Duponte motioned toward the flatscreen with his own full glass, wrapping an arm around his wife’s shoulders and leaning back comfortably. “Raven, you got your glass?”  
The mute woman nodded and offered her father a happy smile, raising her full champagne flute to show him she was ready.  
Meanwhile, Regina and Francis began the count. “-Six, five, four-” Chandler joined in, Raven mouthing the count along with them. “-three, two, one-”  
The ball dropped on TV, and The Triangle was alive with pop music and screams of happiness and excitement for the new year.  
“Happy new year!” The verbally-abled Dupontes happily shouted, Raven settling on elated claps.  
Chandler and Regina shared the first kiss of the new year, and Francis stepped over the coffee table to give his older sister a tight hug. “Happy 2009, Ray. Maybe now you’ll finally get a fuckin’ boyfriend.”  
_“Fuck you too, Frankie,”_ Raven whispered in his ear despite getting a laugh out of his ribbing.  
Each of them got a kiss from their parents, and that was the most eventful part of the last day of 2008.  
  
  
“Topolina Mia!” The sound of her nickname ‘Little Mouse’, called her through her bedroom door, made her stir in her bed. “It's late!”  
Raven put her glasses on and looked at the alarm clock beside the bed. 9:30 the next morning- she slept longer than she meant to.  
She did that frequently since she stopped working for Ray Boccino.  
Ray was found dead around a month and a half ago. Foul play suspected by LCPD, of course. The whole thing was sensationalized on Weazel News.  
These days she was freelance. Whoever had a request, she took it.  
Her limitations came from her father forbidding her from working with Jimmy Pegorino.  
Jimmy P. was found dead on Happiness Island a few weeks ago. Apparently having been shot multiple times by an unknown assailant.  
Mr. Boccino had mentioned a Slavic man working for himself and Jimmy P.  
She didn’t think it was likely that _he_ could’ve killed Pegorino. He had too many people protecting him for just _one_ guy to mow him down in such a public place. There was a Russian mob around Hove Beach, so it realistically could’ve been any of them.  
But still-  
Fuck Pegorino.  
He never respected her father despite Chandler having worked for him for _years_. It was how he and Regina met. She even went to bat for him, asking Pegorino to give him work.  
But because Chandler wasn’t the least bit Italian, Pegorino set him up with menial tasks. Not allowing him to advance. Disposable.  
  
And now that Chandler had retired, and Raven was more than aware of how business worked, she had an in.  
And made her money well.  
Panting heavily as she ran full speed through the back alleys of Acter Industrial Park, Raven struggled to properly conceal the untraceable pistol in the inside pocket of her jacket. Shots fired, a man dead on a pile of rubble from a partially collapsed warehouse, the LCPD would be there soon if she didn't hurry to get away. Worse yet, she wasn't far from the prison. Cops were everywhere.  
Her contact had requested that she meet up with them in the area for an exchange. Drugs, of course. The deal had gone wrong. Luckily for her, he was too stupid to bring backup.  
The only problem was that she had _assumed_ that a _silencer_ on a pistol would actually _be fucking SILENT._  
It was not.  
She read each street sign in her head as she sprinted along the sidewalk- careful to avoid police cars.  
Musketeer Avenue.  
Grenadier Street.  
If she couldn’t find a fucking cab, it was all over.  
  
A familiarly shaped sign on top of a yellow car was a sight for sore eyes.  
Raven, cursed with mutism at nine years old, wouldn’t be able to hail a cab easily-- or at least it wouldn’t have been easy if she hadn’t learn to whistle loud enough to deafen someone. Fingers to her lips, she let out a single loud, sharp whistle- causing the cab driver to pull over up ahead. She bolted for the back seat, not noticing the man who had apparently hailed the cab just before her and got in on the other side.  
“Excuse me,” he looked at her like she was strange to him. He spoke with a Slavic accent- common around the Hove Beach area. “I had already called for this…”  
The look of bewilderment and fear on her face must have told him a frightening story of a helpless girl trying to get away from someone who attacked her.  
Because he changed his mind. “Uh, driver,” he said, momentarily taking his eyes off of the young woman, whose glasses had fogged up from the heat radiating from her face. “We are going to share the ride.”  
“Where to?”  
“I’m going to Albany Avenue,” the foreign man replied, looking back at Raven. “Where are you going?”  
Unable to answer the stranger, she could only offer a shrug in response. An _“I don’t care, just not here.”_  
“Also Albany Avenue, I guess.”  
  
During the drive, Raven leaned far away from the stranger who constantly looked over at her. Making sure that not even the edges of their clothing touched. She tried not to adjust the gun hidden in her jacket when he was looking. The stupid thing wouldn’t stay in a position in her pocket that wasn’t visible from the outside of her anorak jacket. She had no idea that the Slavic man beside her had noticed.  
The other passenger glanced at the driver, making sure he couldn’t hear him speaking to her. “What do you think you’re doing? Are you about to rob this driver?”  
Raven looked helplessly back at him, shaking her head. How could he have known about the gun? She tried so hard to hide it…  
“Say something,” he whispered.  
_“I can’t,”_ she mouthed, following by signing with _“Mute”._  
He noted the sign language, slowly nodding his understanding and saying nothing more until they were in Algonquin.  
When the taxi pulled over, he paid the driver before she could even retrieve her wallet.  
He paid for the both of them.  
She got out with him, planning on hailing the first cab she could find in order to get home from there.  
Before she could even lift an arm to draw attention to herself, the stranger, pulled her aside by the sleeve of her jacket. “What the fuck were you doing that you were in a hurry to get into my cab?”  
Raven didn’t know how to answer him other than sign language. _“I had to get away.”_  
“I don’t understand any of that,” he interrupted, expression shifting into one of amusement when her next gesture was one of clear frustration. “You can’t talk, can you?”  
She shook her head. Confirming that she could not.  
“That must be difficult,” he said, brows furrowed. She noticed the scar running through his left eyebrow.  He noticed how tall she was at the same time- not far from his own height and she wasn’t even wearing heeled shoes.  
Raven nodded in reply, idea coming to mind. She reached into her pocket and fished out her cell phone. A brand new iFruit. First model of its kind. She used the text function, no receiver for the message, she would just tap away on the screen and erase what she had written each time.  
“I need a cab to Little Italy.” She hoped he could even read English.

“Little Italy,” he read. “Is that where you live?”  
She nodded.  
“I'll call a cab for you, then,” he said, taking his own older model phone from his pocket, chose a number, and held it up to his ear. “My cousin owns a cab depot. I ride free,” he said while the phone rang. “Sometimes there aren't any available, but… We’ll see.”  
Raven nodded her appreciation for the gesture. Using his own perks for a stranger? Nice guy. She didn't even know him but she could picture herself taking a liking to him.  
“Roman, cousin,” he greeted the person on the other side of the line. “Could you send a cab my way? I’m on Albany Avenue… Thanks.” Ending the call and sliding his phone back into his pocket, he turned back to Raven. “There’s a driver close by. Should be here in a minute. I’ll tell him where you need to go for you.”  
_“Thank you,”_ she wrote on her phone and showed him the screen, taking it back after a few seconds and adding: _“I’m Raven.”  
_ “Niko,” he replied, the corner of his mouth raising a bit when he saw her mouth out his name with a small nod, as if testing it out. She looked young. And her nice clothes, Perseus brand glasses, and expensive phone told him that she had money. “What exactly _were_ you doing in Alderney?”  
_“Are you a cop?”_ Her screen read.  
“No,” he answered, making the assumption that it had been her source of income to cause trouble. Much like himself. “I’m in a similar line of work. Who were you working for?”  
_“Don’t know,”_ her phone read. _“I work through the internet. Used to work for Ray Boccino.”  
_ Oh. Probably not the best time for Niko to say he killed Ray. Or Jimmy P. “You’re one of Pegorino’s people?”  
She shook her head. _“Never liked him.”  
_ “Neither did I.”  
A black Albany Cavalcade pulled up, and the driver sneered when he noticed Niko. “Look who it is,” the driver greeted in a heavy Indian accent. “It’s Roman’s freeloading cousin. I see you got a friend now. Maybe this time the car will smell like perfume instead of pig shit when you get out.”  
Raven’s brows furrowed in dismay at the driver’s crude comment, Niko rolled his eyes, leaning toward the passenger side door. “The ride’s for _her_ . She’s going to Little Italy.”  
“Good, finally somebody I don’t mind driving for free,” the driver clapped back.  
Niko paid him no mind, hand on Raven’s back to help her into the back seat.  
_“Thank you,”_ she signed, mouthing the words along with it.  
“No problem,” he replied. “I hope to see you around, Raven.”  
She gave him a genuine smile, that he returned just before she pulled the door shut.  
They kept sight of each other through the tinted glass until the cab disappeared around a corner.  
Nice guy. I actually hope I see him again...


	2. Family Dinner

“Ah, Raven-” Chandler Duponte said, drawing his daughter’s attention from the book in her hands. “Would you mind helping Mom in the kitchen?”  
Raven rolled her eyes. Francis was _right there_ and Dad never asked _him_ to help Regina in the kitchen. He was only watching TV. Some stupid cop drama he loved so much.   
With a purposely loud, irritable sigh, Raven set her book aside and headed for the kitchen. Regina had the radio on, softly playing in the background from the stereo on the windowsill.   
“Hi Ray,” Regina greeted. “I’m almost done. Could you set plates out for me?”   
Her daughter nodded in response, heading for the cabinet containing tableware.   
Francis appeared in the kitchen soon after. “C’mon Ray, lemme help,” the younger sibling offered on his own. He knew Raven never liked being told to do certain tasks. Their father had an archaic idea of the kind of work daughters were meant to do. So Francis helped every time Chandler told Raven to help their mother.   
Raven gave her brother a grateful smile as he grabbed the plates from her and set them out on the table. She got glasses in the meantime. He was unusually quiet today. Something must have been bothering him.   
  
Dinner was soon on the table, and the four sat together over their meal.   
Not being one for silence, Regina liked to fill the air with light conversation. Ideas on colors she wanted to paint the living room, asking if Raven’s and Francis’s friends were doing well, as well as how Chandler’s friends were doing.   
“I actually wanted to talk to you about something,” Francis began, speaking slowly like he was struggling to get the words out. He had barely touched his food- unusual for the nineteen year old; whose stomach seemed to be a bottomless pit at some times. Not to mention the way he had been shaking his leg was causing ripples to constantly form in Raven’s glass of water.   
“What’s wrong, Angelo?” Regina asked. Her nickname for him being ‘Angel’. Of course. Mama’s boy.   
“I’ve been thinking about maybe… Looking for a job?”   
Chandler nodded. “I know a place hiring.”   
“No, I mean, an _actual_ job,” Francis said. No less nervous than before.   
Raven frowned. It was weird to see Francis so nervous. He never seemed nervous.   
“I want to go to the police academy...”   
The two women gasped, Raven’s hand over her mouth. All eyes on Francis.   
Chandler offered an anxious titter. “Riiiight.”   
“I’m serious, Dad,” Francis’s voice broke, and he cleared his throat and took a sip of water. “I um- I’ve thought about it for a long time. I wanna be a cop.”  
“My son is not going to be a _pig,_ ” Regina retorted, coming back into the moment. She looked more offended than their father.  
“W-Well why would I wanna do what you and Dad did for money? I always wondered if Dad was even coming home some days! I know Raven did too!”  
Attention shifted to Raven, and she frowned. But she nodded in agreement with her brother. She knew he never wanted to commit crimes for money. She just-- always assumed he’d eventually get over that?   
“I want to do something I don’t have to be _alone_ on,” Francis continued. “The police force is like a brotherhood. It means protecting and serving and-”   
“So does the Mafia, Francis,” Chandler interrupted, head in his hands. “You know that. There’s _more_ risk being a cop in this city.”   
“Well maybe I could be the one to turn that around!” Francis retorted. “I want the city to be _better!_ I’m so tired of turning on the news and hearing about Pegorino this, Mcreary that, Ancelotti whatever- ”  
“The answer is no, baby,” Regina firmly stated. “I don’t want you doing that.”   
“Well maybe that doesn’t matter at my age,” Francis replied, getting up from the table and striding away.   
“Francis-”  
Moments later, the front door to their apartment slammed shut.  
  
Darting down the stairs, Raven wasn’t far behind from her brother when she reached the cold January air, breath coming out as a fog while she pulled her jacket onto her shoulders.   
She spotted him down the street and trotted up behind him.   
_“Are you serious about this?”_ She signed, just after circling around in front of him.   
“Yeah Ray, I’m serious,” Francis flatly replied. “Mom and Dad don’t wanna support me but I don’t fucking care. I’m gonna do this.”   
_“You’ll be hated by twice as many people as Pegorino.”_   
“Fuck Jimmy P. He’s part of the reason this city’s so fucked up. Like _everyone_ in charge of the families are dead so now maybe things can improve.”  
_“C’mon,”_ she mouthed, sighing and shifting her weight onto one side. Exasperated. Shoulders sinking. She lifted her hands to say more. _“You really wanna fix the city?”_   
“Like you wouldn’t fuckin’ believe.”   
Raven gave him a long stare, brows furrowed, mouth a hard line. _“Then do it.”_   
“Seriously? You’re gonna side with me on this?”   
She nodded. _“Don’t let me down.”_   
“I won’t.”   
The shared a quick hug, taking turns lifting each other up like they did as kids- a test to see who had more strength as they got older.


	3. Bellic

Suavemente playing through the speakers of Maisonette 9, Raven had her drink in her hand when she was on the small section of dance floor with her friend. A girl she hadn’t seen in a year or two named Natalie. Natalie was getting married tomorrow, so Raven and several other girls from their old group of friends were out for her bachelorette party. The bridal party was scattered throughout the club- Raven had only run into them by chance and bought them each a drink with the funding from her previous job in Acter.  
“Hey, I’m gonna go pee, I’ll be right back!” Natalie slurred, already so drunk that she didn’t really notice the sash across her torso that read “BRIDE” starting to fall off. Raven gave her a quick thumbs up as she left the dancefloor. Raven remained, moving along to the beat of Elvis Crespo’s most known song.  
A pair of hands found her hips from behind, and she peered back to see a man inviting himself to dance with or-- or rather _on_ her.  
She was drunk-ish. And he was attractive. So why not? A complete stranger in the club might end somewhere _fun_. She turned to face him so they could move together- laughing when he spun her into a dip and lifted her back up.  
Expression dropping when she spotted a familiar face.  
That guy Niko had entered the club, some girl on his arm.  
Suddenly she wanted to leave.  
Some guy on the street who helped her _once_ didn’t sound like somebody she should realistically be around. Natalie wouldn’t mind. Raven didn’t even come with her group.  
She moved away from her dance partner without even a second thought- and then he began to follow her.  
“Where you goin’!?” He called out to be heard over the music. Slurring. Very much intoxicated.

Raven felt she didn’t owe him an answer. And she didn’t. He was just some drunk stranger in the club.  
“Hey!” He was following her, but she couldn’t hear him over the music anymore, heart pounding in her ears. Fight or flight instinct telling her that she needed to avoid being seen by anyone she’d been caught by. Regardless of how helpful he was at the time. He could change his demeanor at any time.  
“What the fuck!?” The guy she’d danced with grabbed her by the back of her dress, making her draw a sharp gasp- instinct kicking in and forcing her to react by turning to hit him in the face with an open hand. Not strong enough to really do damage, but enough to alarm him as well as the people around them, who backed away to avoid whatever came next.  
But nothing else came next. The bouncer Raven knew by name- Luis Lopez- grabbed her assailant from behind and effectively pulled him away, gaining help from several other men nearby when the drunk man began to thrash.  
Raven stood by for a moment, frozen with her hands over her mouth like she’d done something wrong. She turned on her heel and strode toward the stairs leading to the door. When the night air hit her, it felt like it sucked the air out of her lungs.  
Fuck.  
What a buzzkill.  
Creepy guys at the club were common- but none had decided to pull at her clothes before. Thank fucking god for Luis. She’d buy him a round of shots next time she came.  
“Why does it seem like you’re always running away from things?”  
Raven gasped at the sound of Niko’s voice behind her, and she rolled her eyes as she turned to him- as if wondering where he’d gotten the audacity to follow her outside.  
“Hi.” He said plainly. Cheeky.  
Asshole.  
A flick of her wrist gave him the ‘go away’ gesture.  
“Are you sure? You seem ready to go home. I could call you another cab if you like?”  
Raven took her phone out from her bra to ask if he was abandoning his date to just talk to her outside. No pockets meant that she had to improvise. And she didn’t want to carry a purse. It was just something to set down and get stolen--  
Speaking of which, where the fuck were her keys?  
She abandoned the thought of trying to communicate with Niko, instead digging around in the cups of her bra. Her ID and cash were still there, but her house key was missing.  
_“Fuck_ , _”_ she whispered to herself.  
“What?” Niko asked, trying not to stare at the very obvious cleavage that was pronounced by how she’d displaced herself in the search for...something.  
_“My keys,”_ she mouthed, mimicking the motion of turning keys in a lock.  
“They’re gone?”  
Raven nodded, looking embarrassed. She wrote something out for him on her phone. _“No one’s home to let me in either.”_ She might be lucky enough to find her keys in the lost-and-found bowl of Maisonette 9 when the sun came up and the club was closed. But for now, she was shit outta luck.  
Niko glanced back and forth between the door of Maisonette 9 and to Raven, who seemed to be still searching for her keys on her person. Fuck it, he was ditching his date tonight, then. Didn’t like her that much anyway. First date and she was on about how she didn't like immigrants 'but he was an exception'. “I can get you a ride there. So you can see if there’s definitely no one home.”  
  
And, of course, there wasn’t.  
Chandler and Regina were out visiting friends upstate.  
Francis had been out as well. Intending on staying over at _his_ friend’s place because they were going to be doing some underage drinking.  
Raven groaned, cold and exhausted. And her shoes were starting to hurt. She leaned against the door of her apartment, forehead against the two inches of wood that separated her from her home.  
_“Now what?”_ She mouthed to herself.  
Niko opened his mouth to speak several times, backing down each time. The idea was probably not ideal for her, but- “I have room at my apartment.” No that was a creepy sounding idea. “I live with my cousin and his wife-- they don’t mind company.”  
… Fuck it. How many options did she actually have at that point?  
  
First thing in the morning, Raven opened her eyes to see that she was still alone in the wide bed. The sun shone in through the blinds as she climbed out of the bed and adjusted her dress so that her underwear wasn't showing. It had ridden up in her sleep.  
She yawned as she walked around the partition wall, phone in hand, to find Niko asleep on the couch. He'd actually left her undisturbed all night as promised. Perhaps she could trust him. The floor creaked under her weight when she shifted, and Niko's eyes opened. He spotted her standing nearby. "Did you sleep well?" His voice came out groggy.  
She nodded, writing something in text form to show him. _"You didn't have to give up your bed for me. I could have slept in here instead."_  
"It's not a problem," he yawned, standing to stretch out his back. “Do you know if anyone can let you into your home by now?”  
_“I can find out.”_ She showed him the words on her screen before getting to work on texting Francis first, then waiting for an answer. She let out a long breath, wheezing at the end. Dehydrated. Between the dry air and all of the tequila shots she’d done the night before, she felt about as dry as a piece of toast.  
“You need water,” Niko said before she could even ask. Then he motioned back toward the kitchen area where she could help herself.  
Raven nodded her thanks again, look on her face implying that she never meant to be a burden as she walked toward the kitchen. Niko offered a patient half-smile in response, getting ready to sit back down.  
The door to the back bedroom creaked open and soon he was met with the sight of Roman, ready for another day at the cab depot. “Niko!” He beamed, not having noticed the very quiet woman in the kitchen. She however, jumped at the sudden loud greeting. “Cousin, how was your date last night? _Did you take her back to her place?_ ” He asked with a suggestive tone, laughing until he spotted Raven standing in the kitchen, glass of water in hand. “Oh… Hello!”  
Raven gave him a quick wave in response, glass to her lips.  
“You didn’t say you’d be bringing women back here,” Roman whispered to his cousin.  
“She was locked out of her home, I let her take the bed.” Niko shrugged.  
“... So you didn’t even score?”  
“... That’s a _person_ , Roman.”  
“A really tall one,” Roman muttered, eyeing Raven when her back was turned. “With _nice titties_ , by the way. Not very big, but-” he give Niko the “OK” gesture.  
“Yeah. I noticed.”  
“So, uh-” Roman spoke up again, addressing Raven. “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Roman, Niko’s cousin.”  
Raven set down her glass, opting to write out her reply to him on her phone.  
“... She’s not deaf, is she?” He asked Niko, perplexed by how she hadn’t spoken.  
“She’s _mute_ ,” Niko replied. “Her name’s Raven.”  
Raven, not able to type as quickly as Niko could explain, gave up on the task.  
“Román! Niko! ” Mallorie’s voice greeted as the front door opened. Coming home with pamphlets in hand, as well as a single, small shopping bag. Eleven weeks pregnant and in the early stages still of showing. “I have some _amazing_ news!”  
Mallorie darted forward and embraced her husband, happily kissing him before moving over to hug Niko as well. “I know you wanted the sex of the baby to be a surprise, but I just couldn’t help myself- I went out and bought the _cutest_ little outfit for it the moment I found out and I wanna show you!” Her smile faltered when she spotted an unfamiliar woman in the kitchen wearing a dress that implied one of two things: She stayed the night and was a hooker, or was just a hooker that somebody brought over during the daytime. “Who’s this?”  
“She’s a friend of mine,” Niko answered. “She didn’t have anywhere to sleep last night so I gave her one.”  
“A prostitute.”  
Raven’s features shifted into a look of offense.  
“ _Not_ a prostitute,” Niko replied quickly. “Just a friend.”  
“Oh,” Mallorie covered her mouth, feeling terrible for insulting Raven so quickly. She moved over to the strange, tall woman to apologize directly. “I’m so sorry, hun. Pregnancy brain. Got me all over the place. I’m Mallorie,” she said sweetly. “Román and I got married just about a month ago so we're all living here together until Bellic #4 is born. ”  
Raven smiled despite the first negative impression, showing her screen to Mallorie- still containing what she was going to say to Roman. _“My name is Raven. I was locked out of my apartment last night so Niko let me sleep here. Sorry for intruding, I’m going home right now.”_  
“Oh, Honey no,” Mallorie beamed. “Any friend of Niko’s is a friend of ours- you want any breakfast?”


	4. Close To Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short but sweet

_ C’mon… C’mon…  _   
The scoreboard overhead stated that Raven had gotten a strike.   
“Yes!” Roman cheered, leaving his seat to high-five his teammate.   
It had been Roman’s suggestion that they go bowling tonight on Raven’s twenty fourth birthday. The game was nearly over, and the two of them were destroying Mallorie and Niko.   
Raven had quickly taken a liking to the Bellics, though they’d been a little apprehensive about her family’s ties to Pegorino at first. But after having met her family, they knew none of that mattered anymore.   
“I swear, the two of you are cheating!” Mallorie said, unable to stop smiling. It made her happy to see her expanding family at ease after all of the trouble last year.   
“We’re just professionals!” Roman replied, moving to kiss his pregnant wife.    
Six months in. Heavier in front, Roman had to help her get the bowling ball rolling down the lane.   
_ "They're so sweet."  _ Raven typed onto her phone, nudging Niko to show him.    
"Roman is lucky to have found someone like Mallorie," Niko agreed.    
Raven grinned, nudging him again- but staying leaned against his shoulder.  _ "Have you ever thought about doing the same?" _   
Niko didn't answer. Sore subject.    
She frowned, sliding her phone back into her pocket and sitting upright; anxiously twirling a section of her long black hair.    
  
The smartphone had become more sensationalized in the last few months. And Raven's iFruit now had more app options because of that. Now including a text-to-speech app.   
After they’d dropped off Roman and Mallorie at the apartment on Albany Avenue, Niko had driven Raven south toward Little Italy- borrowing Roman’s car.   
_ “Sorry for what I said earlier,” _ a woman’s digitized voice read from the speaker of her phone. Niko glanced over at the sound- finding that it was only a new way for Raven to communicate.   
“You don’t need to apologize,” Niko replied. “It isn't something I talk about.”  
_ “Can I ask why?” _   
“I had...” Niko began, lapsing into silence- as if debating whether or not to actually delve into the truth. In the end, he decided against it. “It is best not to get too close to me.”    
He spotted Raven’s downtrodden look out of the corner of his eye before she wrote something out, phone reading in the same digitized voice  _ “But I like you.” _   
A sharp tug at his heartstrings.   
He felt the same. Many times Mallorie had waited until Raven went home to tell him  _ ‘Niko, I  _ _ love _ _ her, you have to marry her’. _ “I know.” He said simply. Just as he’d said to Mallorie each time.   
  
When the car pulled up to the laundromat below her family’s apartment, Raven paused before she reached for the handle of the door. She began writing out several statements on her phone before erasing each one. Unsure of what to say to him.   
“I’m sorry,” he said before she could decide. “I don’t want to get your hopes up.”   
Raven’s lips formed a hard line. Frustrated. So much to say, no voice to say it. Her nimble fingers rapidly tapped at the screen on her phone.  _ “I understand. Good night, Niko.” _ __  
“Good night, Raven.”   
With a sigh of resignation, Raven reached for the handle of the door again, but stopped. Her shoulders shook with a muted, hollow giggle. Hoping to lighten the mood a little.  _ “Can I at least have a quick little kiss for my birthday?” _   
Despite the memories of the previous year, the corner of Niko’s mouth raised at the request. And he gave in. “Okay. One.”   
Raven slowly leaned over the console in between the seats, Niko meeting her halfway until their lips touched. Soft. Lingering. Warm.   
They separated- just barely. Raven looked at him over the frames of her glasses, mouthing  __ “One more.”   
Well, it was her birthday after all…   
“Okay. One more.”   
He felt Raven’s smile against his lips-- and felt it drop when the sound of a sharp whistle drew their attention to the sidewalk.   
Where her brother Francis stood by, arms crossed and leaning against the brick wall, wide, teasing grin on his face. “Awww, when’s the wedding?”   
Raven rolled her eyes and gave her brother the middle finger before stealing a quick kiss to the Slavic man’s cheek before seeing herself out of the car.   
A good birthday.


	5. Due Date

“How come you’re not with Niko? He’s so nice, Ray!” Regina Duponte asked her daughter. “I feel like he never comes around anymore, what happened to him?”  
_“Busy,”_ Raven signed to her mother. A lie.  
Because going out with Niko was supposedly out of the question, Raven looked elsewhere.  
Eventually meeting Dan Peters a month later.  
He was nice enough at first-- the fact that he knew what he was doing in bed didn't hurt either. Her parents would never know about him.  
Because three things made her uncertain of whether or not she wanted to pursue a serious relationship with him:  
1\. He wanted to be a cop. And was soon to go to the academy.  
2\. He was the jealous type- and while that was flattering sometimes, it was hard to tell him to stop shouting when he was on a tangent.  
3\. He did not like that she was friends with Niko.  
Apparently it was fair game to be friends with Roman and Mallorie because they were married, but Niko was a different story.  
He simultaneously refused to hang out with Raven when Niko was around, and hated to let her spend time alone with him.  
  
“I’m _not_ jealous,” Dan defended. “I just don’t get how _you_ don’t see why he hangs out with you.”  
_“Because he’s my friend!”_ Her phone read aloud.  
“Please, he’s just trying to fuck you.”  
_“If he was, it would’ve happened before I met you,”_ Raven quickly wrote out the rebuttal. Dan did not seem calmed by this.  
_“Why don’t you trust me?”_ She wrote, watching him pace the living room in his apartment. Picking things up too aggressively, setting things down so that they slammed. He was getting ready to go to work. He was leaving for the academy in three months. Raven had debated what would be her way out of the relationship: the police force or him giving her some kind of panic attack.  
“I don’t trust _him_.” Dan retorted. “Would you trust _me_ around a stripper? Obviously you wouldn’t. So why should I trust some fuckin’ commie around my girl? I mean- look at you,” he said, motioning toward her. She flinched, thinking he had implied that she was weak. “You’re fucking _beautiful_.”  
Raven looked back at him. Tense. The compliment meant nothing coming from a guy who had essentially just insinuated that she would never be able to trust him around other women.  
“C’mon, Raven...” His tone softened, and he approached her. He took her hands in his- uncomfortably tight. Raven was tall at nearly six foot- but he seemed to tower over her in moments like this like he was ten feet tall. “I know your friends are important to you. But you’re _mine…_ I don’t wanna have to share you.”  
_‘Mine.’_  
A red flag.  
One of many.  
And like too many others in unhappy relationships, she overlooked it in hopes of this being the only low point in their time together.  
  
It was not.  
  
She lied to him today.  
Saying that Roman and Mallorie were home and waiting for her. In truth, the two of them were out- and would be for a couple of hours. It would just be her and Niko until they got back. They were going to surprise the couple by assembling a crib before they came back to the apartment.  
Little did she know, Dan had invited himself.  
She paused when she heard the driver’s side door open and shut behind her back as she was walking away. He’d parked in the residents’ spot outside- but she’d assumed that he was only dropping her off.  
_“What are you doing?”_ She signed, lips moving along with her hands.  
“What?” He asked- as if it was an interrogation. “I’m coming with. Gonna say hi to my good buddy Niko.”  
_He’s not gonna like that,_ Raven thought. But she gave into what he wanted, as she always did, and led the way into the lobby and up the elevator.  
  
“Niko, my man!” Dan boomed the moment he and Raven entered the apartment, his hand forming a tight grip on her arm, catching her by surprise and making her cringe.  
Niko noticed the flinch, and immediately knew that Dan had muscled his way inside the apartment. He didn’t like Dan. Or the way he seemed to believe he owned Raven. “Nice to see you, Dan… Are you dropping Raven off?”  
“Figured I’d come say hi first!” Dan replied, unintentionally sounding as intense as the scene in a movie before a murder. The way he let go of Raven’s arm resembled a careless shove; and she stumbled, but caught herself nonetheless. Looking peeved.  
That just made Niko ball his fists at his side. Which Dan didn’t notice.  
“Just wanted to get a word in with you before we get started.”  
_“Dan.”_ Raven’s phone read.  
Dan ignored her, laying an arm around Niko’s shoulder and turning the two of them away from Raven- only pissing Niko off in the process.  
“I know you want time alone with my girl,” Dan said in a low tone. Threatening. Not trying to raise alarm from Raven. “But I swear to god, if you screw her, I’m gonna have to fuck you up. Okay?”  
“I’ll try keep that in mind,” Niko said flatly.  
“Good man,” Dan smiled, looking like an animal ready to go in for the kill at any moment.  
He moved back over to Raven, forcibly pressing a hard kiss against her lips that made her drop her phone. Her glasses were skewed and her lower back hurt with how he’d bent her backward. When he stood her upright and pulled away from her, he moved behind her and buried his fingers in her hair. Tight enough for her to wince.  
“ _What the fuck do you think you're doing!?_ ” Niko snapped, advancing toward them when he spotted the pained look on Raven’s face.  
“What? She likes it rough,” Dan smirked, pressing his lips to Raven’s bared neck. “Don’t you, gorgeous?”  
The look of hatred in her eyes said everything the Slav needed to know. She winced when he bit her.  
Dan met his gaze with the look of _‘I can do this and you can’t’_.  
“I’ll come get you later, Raven,” Dan said, admiring the bite mark he left on the side of her neck. “Love you.”  
Raven stood entirely still as her boyfriend left her. Seething. Shaking. Looking ready to cry from the degradation.  
“What the fuck is wrong with that guy?” Niko sneered, moving over to Raven. His plan, the next time he ever saw Dan for any reason, would be to break _both_ if his arms. His only regret was not doing it right now. “Are you alright?”  
Raven nodded, taking in a shaky breath and adjusting her glasses before retrieving her phone from the floor. The screen had cracked.  
Which had been the final straw.  
Moving over to the couch, Raven slumped over, broken phone in her hands.  
Niko sat down beside her, maintaining some distance in case she didn’t want to be touched after the horrid moment.  
In truth she was just upset about having been degraded in front of her closest friend.  
“Why are you with someone like that?”  
Raven shrugged. Without an answer.  
“You’re not serious about him, are you?”  
She shook her head and moved her hand in a cutting motion.  
“You’re done after this,” was what he interpreted from the gesture.  
Raven nodded, setting her phone aside and moving closer toward Niko until he laid an arm around her shoulders. She wrapped her arms around his middle and leaned her head against him. It made her feel secure.  
It was the first time Dan had set a hand on her, and it made her want nothing to do with him in an instant.  
He seemed so nice at first, too…  
_Seemed._ __  
She’d known Niko for months, and he had always been good to her. Respectful, sweet, patient, helpful… She had never really gotten over him.  
“You’ll find someone right for you,” Niko said, as if having read her mind. “It’s what you deserve. Someone good.”  
Raven met Niko’s gaze. __  
_“But I_ _have_ _someone good...”_ She mouthed the words as they leaned closer together. Even if he couldn’t read her lips from their close proximity.  
And they kissed. Just barely-- testing.  
“One more.”  
Despite the anxiety of the minutes before, Raven smiled. Comforted by her friend’s presence.  
So they kissed again.  
And again.  
And again- each one a little more confident than the last until they didn’t need the excuse of ‘one more’.  
It felt like second nature- and they hadn’t noticed how Raven began to lie back on the couch- Niko following.  
The kiss grew deeper just as Niko’s hand began to slide up into Raven’s shirt...  
Until his phone rang.  
They froze, sitting upright when they realized they’d gotten carried away.  
Faces red as he checked to see who was calling.  
Roman.  
“...Hello?”  
_“I’M GOING TO BE A FATHER!”_ Both Niko and Raven cringed away from the device when Roman shouted into it from the other side.  
“Is it happening right now?”  
_“Yes! I just brought Mallorie to the hospital! Get Raven- get here!”_  
“Well-- which fucking hospital?”  
“Lancet! I’ll be waiting for you in the lobby.”  
And with that, the call ended. Leaving Raven and Niko in silence.  
“Mallorie’s having a baby,” he smiled.  
Raven, positively beaming, nodded that she’d overheard Roman.  
She kissed him in her excitement, and withdrew when she realized they’d gotten heavier than they’d intended. Just from a kiss.  
“We should really talk about this later.”


	6. Officer Peters

_“Say it,”_ Raven’s phone read aloud.  
“Kay-dee!”  
Raven practically melted.  
Mallorie’s hands over her own mouth were to stifle the gasp she’d responded with. “Oh my god, she knows her name! Katie, say it again!”  
“Kay-deeeee!”  
Mallorie was seconds away from crying tears of joy. “Ohmygod _Iloveyousomuch_ . Román! _Rom_ _á_ _n!! Raven taught Katie how to say her name!_ ”  
They overheard Roman rushing over from the kitchen, where he was talking with Niko. “How’d she do _that!?_ ”  
“She’s _one_ , Román, they learn at this age. ”  
“No, I mean now did _Raven_ teach her?” He snickered at his own joke, and Mallorie and Raven both gave him a slap on either arm for it.  
When Niko walked out of the kitchen, Raven stood up from where she sat with the baby on the floor, and moved over to him while Roman and Mallorie took turns getting their daughter to say her name.  
“Seriously, how did you teach her?” Niko asked.  
Raven took the can of beer out of his hand and stole a long gulp from it. She then wrote out _“I’m just that good.”_  
It had been a year since the moment in Niko’s apartment when they’d kissed.  
A year.  
They hadn’t ended up together in the aftermath, and nothing more had happened past that last kiss. Because no matter how much she wanted a relationship with him, he firmly believed that it would only hurt her in the end.  
But she adored him nonetheless. And spent as much time with him as she could.  
  
Two years later in 2012, Francis had successfully completed his training in the LCPD police academy and was stationed in Algonquin.  
Raven was the only Duponte to come to his graduation ceremony- because their parents still didn't support his choice.  
  
He made an excellent officer. Big on community relations and volunteering events. Raven listened to him talk about how he intervened with fights on the street and in the subway- and how he didn't have to resort to violence himself even in those situations. She had once observed how he spoke to people when he was in uniform. Respectful. Patient. Polite.  
It made her proud to see that he was making good on his promise to be a good cop. She often told him that Mom and Dad would be proud too as soon as they've adjusted.  
"I dunno, Ray..." Francis sighed, anxiously drumming his fingers on the top of the black hat of his uniform. "I don't think they'll ever get over it."  
He had to find an apartment just before he graduated. He didn't want to keep living with their parents.  
Raven had managed to get a place of her own as well. A cheap apartment in Bohan that belonged to Mallory's family. They were happy to set her up in it as long as it meant being away from Dan Peters.  
Speaking of which...  
"Y'know..." Francis said. "Peters is my partner. He was assigned to me this morning."  
Raven's smile dropped.  
"I'm not gonna be bringing him around, I'll just be riding around in a car with him."  
_"Can you tell your station what the problem is with that?"_ She signed.  
"Not without stirring up shit. For all of us," Francis replied. "You'd be investigated, Niko, Roman, and Mallory would, _our whole family_ would be... And I know that all can't happen. I'd be forced out of the station. Possibly relocated out of state if I’m not kicked out of the force all together... He's been there for three years already. He’s established a reputation."  
  
“You look good today, Raven,”  
The tall woman sneered at the compliment. The fucker had invited himself to lunch with her and her brother. She did her best to ignore his presence as she and Francis caught up.  
  
By the end of the month, Officer Peters had frequently insinuated himself into Francis’ personal life. Constantly ‘checking on’ Raven. Asking if she was still single. Asking if she was still seeing Niko. Not bothering to look her in the eyes when he was in the room. Instead leering. Purposely making her uncomfortable and keeping her on edge. Claiming it was to really make sure she was doing well.  
And then he started driving past her apartment. He’d used his connections to see where she lived.  
And she started sleeping with a gun at her side.  
Unfortunately, strict gun laws in Liberty State prevented her from carrying it around most times.  
  
_“I don’t like this,”_ She wrote, showing her screen to Niko. A police car had gone by, just in the distance. She could see the paint job past the trees.  
Roman and Mallorie had asked them to watch Katie so they could go out for the day. House hunting somewhere nicer than the city. They took her to a playground in Middle Park. Every time a cop car went by, Raven felt her skin crawl. Like every car could be Dan Peters.  
“He’s not coming when I’m here,” Niko insisted. They sat next to each other on the park bench, observing Katie making friends with other kids in the sandbox.  
_“Why do you think so?”_   
“Because if he does, I’m going to break his neck.” He had stated more than once that if he was ever around Dan again, he would break some bones. Whichever bone seemed to change every time it was mentioned.  
Raven rolled her eyes. _“You’d go to prison. He’s a cop.”_  
“I know.”  
He was a good friend. Ever since that day, he seemed to keep an eye on anyone she talked to. Never let anyone so much as raise their voice to her.  
  
As time passed and Katie grew tired, they decided it was time to go. Home wasn't far for him. A five minute walk from the park. Niko would be in charge of taking the little girl home to put her in bed, and Raven had to head home as well. Tonight she would be having dinner with her family.  
She needed to get the number for the cab driver Niko usually called from Roman’s company. A free ride would be great.  
She would have to settle for a regular yellow cab.  
Stopping at the corner of Quartz Street, she waited on a cab to pass by- and when she saw one, she whistled for it. They pulled over right away, and she broke into a jog to get into the back seat.  
  
It was a twenty minute drive from Middle Park to Bohan. Less, since the driver was doing a lot of speeding.  
So much so, that it attracted the attention of a squad car.  
She felt the icy touch of dread when she saw red and blue lights reflecting off of the rearview mirror, and tensed up as the driver pulled over.  
_Please be Francis, please be just Francis, please-_  
But it wasn’t.  
She didn’t have to even pay close attention to recognize the overconfident swagger Peters had in his step.  
Maybe if she just kept her head down, he wouldn’t notice her.  
As he came up to the driver’s window, Raven’s hands were shaking as she struggled to seem like she was focused on her phone. Tapping away at any app that might make her look busy.  
Text app in the background processes. Ready to send out a message if she needed someone to come get her from this.  
“Look who it is!”  
_FUCK._  
She looked up from the phone, seeing the cocky smirk on his face.  
“I seriously didn’t expect to see you here,” he said. “Out of the car, please.”  
What the fuck- why?  
Dan turned to the driver. “Sir, did you know there’s an arrest warrant out for this girl when you accepted her fare?”  
“What the fuck, _no_ I didn’t know that!”  
There was no arrest warrant. But without a voice to call him on the lie, she felt frozen. Powerless.  
“Alright, out you go-” He didn’t even allow her to let herself out. He opened the door himself and pulled her out by her arm.  
She didn’t even know how to react, finding herself complying. Part of her feared that he would beat her if she resisted. He was armed. She could see everything on his belt.  
“Sorry for the trouble, sir,” Peters smiled at the driver, holding Raven’s wrists behind her back. Not bothering to make a show of handcuffing her. It wasn’t an actual arrest. There was no basis for it. “You go on, have a good rest of your day. And take it easy on the gas pedal.”  
As the cab drove away, Peters led Raven to his car and put her into the back seat.  
“Sorry for the whole shit show,” he said, as if all of this were in good nature. “Just thought I’d give you a ride home. Why pay for a cab, right?”  
She tried to inconspicuously reach for her phone in her pocket-- but found it missing.  
It was still in the cab. That was at least half a mile away now.  
She couldn’t communicate. Not with him or anyone else she wanted to ask to get her out of this.  
  
He kept trying to make small talk on the way to Bohan. She was actually surprised that he was taking her to her apartment.  
“Y’know, this place is a real shithole,” he noted, pulling over in front of her building. “A girl as cute as you shouldn’t be living alone in a place like this.”  
Raven felt like she was keeping as still as a statue the whole ride. As if it would make her less noticeable to him. It was all she had. She couldn’t call anyone. Couldn’t shout for help. Couldn’t fight him- he was in uniform and she would be arrested _for real._  
“I wish things played out better between us.” He got out of the driver’s seat and moved to let her out, keeping a firm, too tight hold on her arm as he walked her to the door. “I thought we were really good together. I know I have a temper, but you gotta be careful when you hang around other guys.”  
Raven didn’t even try to look in his direction. The hallway of the apartment wasn’t a door that locked, so she let herself inside.  
And he followed. She felt like she was going go throw up. Especially when he didn’t stop at the foot of the stairs. He followed all of the way up to her unit, and she was struggling to isolate her key with her shaking hands.  
“You gonna invite me in?” He asked. Trying to imply that he wanted to be alone with her behind closed doors.  
Raven ignored the question, singling out her key and turning it in the lock.  
He set a hand over hers and pulled it shut just as she was ready to slip inside.  
“C’mon, talk to me.”  
Asshole. He knew damn well that she couldn’t if she didn’t have her phone.  
“I know we left things in a bad place,” he tried to take on a caring tone. Instead it just sounded to her like it was leading somewhere she didn’t want to be. Worse yet, he moved closer to her. Like he was going to try to kiss her. “I think we should try it again. Pick up where we left off...”  
Raven took a step back away from him, giving him the same hateful glare as she did that day he assaulted her in front of Niko. That was humiliating. And she wouldn’t let him do it again.  
He took it as a challenge. And grabbed her by the wrist to pull her against himself. “I know you’re upset. Give me a chance to make it better,” he forcefully tilted her head to the side so that he could force his mouth against her neck. She let out a silent shriek, entire body tensing in fear.  
And, on instinct, she pushed until his back slammed against the wall. He gasped as the wind was nearly knocked out of him, training kicking in. He grabbed her by the wrist again as she moved to run down the stairs of the building, pulling her back in.  
“The fuck do you think you’re doing?” He hissed.

Raven didn’t know what else to do but to keep trying to push him away, throwing punches- which seemed do not do much to throw him off other than get his nose to bleed. His grip was still tight on her.  
And he punched her in the stomach. Her vision whited out and she doubled over, glasses slipping off of her face and falling on the hardwood floor. But she was in such a panicked state that the _real_ pain was delayed. She momentarily forgot the grip on her arm, and put all of her weight into jamming her hip against him to throw off his center of gravity.  
And they fell down the stairs together.  
Raven hit the tiled floor at the bottom, feeling blood roll down her cheek from where the impact had scraped it. She scrambled to get to her feet in the confusion, nearly falling on her face once more when her arm gave out on her.  
Broken.  
She kept it tucked close to her body as she tried standing again to run outside.  
A hand around her ankle made her fall again. And she nearly blacked out from her broken arm hitting the floor.  
She was dragged backward on the floor and Dan climbed over her to try to keep her hands on the floor. “What the fuck is wrong with you!?”  
She tried to push him off- weak from all of her senses being overloaded at once.  
Worse yet, he saw it as another attempt to attack him, and he hit her in retaliation.  
She saw white dots in her vision, tasting blood in the back of her throat.  
He hit her again. She couldn’t see out of her left eye anymore.  
And again.  
And she didn’t remember the rest.  
  
When Raven woke up again, she thought she had still been dreaming.  
A terrible dream. Where she felt like she was crying the entire time. As her eye opened, she still felt the bitter pain of misery. And saw fluorescent lighting overhead.  
A hospital room.  
Her head hurt so fucking much.  
She looked to the side and saw an IV drip in her arm keeping her from being dehydrated. She was alone in the room, and could see out the window on the door that there was a uniformed police officer standing just outside.  
She remembered the events of what had put her in that room, and begged every deity she had ever heard of that the officer outside wasn’t Dan Peters.  
“Is she awake?” A muffled voice from outside asked.  
“Let’s see,” the cop in the window turned around. She didn’t recognize him. “Yeah, she’s up. Go on in.”  
  
A doctor, as well as two more police officers entered the room. Neither were Peters. Neither were Francis.  
“Can you tell me your name, ma’am?” The doctor asked.  
Raven shook her head. She couldn’t say a word. And with one broken arm, a lot of ASL was out of the question.  
“Do you not remember?”  
_“Can’t talk,”_ she mouthed.  
“We got an ID on her an hour ago. Name is Raven Margo Duponte,” one of the cops seemed to be reading off of a file. While the doctor checked her IV drip. “Age...26, nearly 27. From out in Little Italy.”  
“Duponte?” The other cop asked. “Like _our_ Duponte?”  
“Too good to be true, right?” The first asked.  
“Has anybody called him?”  
“Should be here any minute,” The cop with the file set it down and approached Raven’s bed. “Miss Duponte. You’re under arrest for the assault of a uniformed officer with the additional charge of resisting arrest. You will remain in this hospital room under twenty four hour watch until you’re healthy enough to be taken elsewhere. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law-”  
“Kinda wasted since she can’t even say anything.”  
“Dude, let me finish,” he struggled to keep a straight face, especially when he saw Raven glowering at him with her good eye. “Miss Duponte, you have the right to an attorney. If you can not afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have stated to you, and with these rights in mind do you wish to speak with me?”  
_“Get fucked,”_ she mouthed.  
“Duly noted,” the cop replied with a tight smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: I chose Raven's middle name 'Margo' as a reference to Rebecca Sugar's mini-comic titled Margo In Bed.


	7. Burn

It was a struggle to get out of the bed to use the bathroom, but she made it work.  
She cried when she saw her reflection in the mirror. Bruised, scabbed, left eye blackened and swollen shut. Lip split open from being hit. Right arm in a sling- according to the doctor, her arm wasn't broken, but her shoulder had been dislocated. It still hurt.   
Her long hair was a mess, and she looked haggard and exhausted. Ugly.  
The only thing that made it less horrible was when she left the mirror to go lie down again. The needle had been taken out of her arm after her rights were read. Now that she was conscious, she was told to drink plenty of water.  
When she reached the bed and tried to get comfortable, the door to the room opened.  
She looked up to see Francis, out of uniform, looking like he was in a blind panic. “Ray, what the _fuck did you do!?_ ”  
Her relief to see her brother died quickly.  
“You fucking _attacked_ him! Are you fucking insane!?”  
 _“Francis-”_ _  
_“Because of something _you_ chose not to report two years ago, you thought you could shove him down some fucking stairs! What the fuck is wrong with you!?”  
Raven’s hand over her mouth kept her from hyperventilating as her eyes overflowed with fresh, stinging tears. Francis wouldn’t listen to the truth with how worked up he was. And she couldn’t tell him. Only able to shake her head while he ranted.   
Moments later he had gotten the worst of it out of his system, and calmed down to her what she had to say for herself.   
“I assume they took your phone,” Francis grumbled, passing her a pen and notepad from the bedside. The doctor had provided them for her after learning she was mute.   
It was difficult to write with her left hand, but she had to make it work.   
_“He took me from a cab. Drove me home. Kept following me. Touched me. I fought back.”  
_ “I'm calling bullshit, Ray,” Francis said after reading her note. “He's an asshole but he wouldn't do something _that_ detrimental to his career! If that were true, why didn't you send me a message? Why would you just let him take you into his car?”  
 _“Phone still in the cab. What was I supposed to do? He was in uniform. Pretended to arrest me.”  
_ Francis lapsed into silence. Searching for the lie in her expression. It sounded too convenient to him that she would lose her phone- something that never left her side since she got it and found a way to use it best for her needs.   
And to _pretend_ to arrest her? That sounded entirely fabricated to him. There was no warrant for her arrest that he knew of. And Peters was a dickhead but he wasn't reckless like that… was he?  
The mention of her phone in a cab got him thinking.   
And Raven wasn't a weak woman. He'd seen her clock a guy in the face when they were just teenagers because he manipulated her into giving up her virginity. Compared to her, Peters looked relatively unharmed.   
“I'm gonna go make some calls,” he said, standing up and heading for the door- only to stop when he heard Raven tapping the bedside table with her hand.  
When she got his attention, she wrote something else on the notepad, and he came over to read it. _“Where are mom and dad? Do they know?”_  
“They know,” he replied. “But because you're under watch, only cops can come in to speak to you.”  
 _“Bellics?”  
_ “The Bellics don't know.”  
Probably for the best right now.   
The last thing she needed was Niko in prison because she wasn't there to stop him from doing anything crazy.   
“I'm gonna get you a lawyer,” Francis broke the silence, and left the room.   
  
Until further notice, working with Dan Peters was out of the question. Thanks to Francis being Raven’s brother, his leadership decided that it would be inappropriate for him to continue to work with Peters.  
Peters was placed on desk duty for a while- where Francis had been the day of the incident. _  
_Francis was, incidentally, still in the precinct for the night as well.  
Two days since Raven was hospitalized and placed under arrest.   
Their parents were in an uproar. They wanted to kill the one responsible for hurting their only daughter, but Francis didn't say a word about it to them. Raven was also not allowed contact with anyone outside of the room.   
Dan didn't seem especially bothered by the incident. Back to his usual self within a day. Joking and all.   
It made Francis’ blood boil. For this guy to be okay with hospitalizing his ex-girlfriend. His partner’s sister. But Francis had to keep his head down and keep his emotions out of it. He was still a nobody compared to someone who had been there longer- and who was well liked.  
  
On the third day, Francis had finally gotten a lawyer who would take the case. He would pay out of pocket.   
The thought of the legal fees got him feeling drained halfway through his shift, and he stopped in the break room to grab his third cup of coffee.   
He chose to pay no mind to Peters, who was in the break room with a couple of other officers.   
“So what was the deal with that chick anyway, man?”  
“So she's my ex. I suspect she's fuckin this other guy so I have a talk with him. And then she dumps me for it. So after a couple of years they're not together anymore or whatever. I see her, I give her a ride home, and I think she's gonna invite me in. I thought she was just playing hard to get. So I kissed her-"  
Francis froze in front of the coffee maker. Unnoticed by the group with his back to them.  
“And she just fuckin’ starts _hitting_. So at this point, she's outta her fuckin’ mind, I'm freaked out, and she _throws us both down the stairs!_ ”  
“Jesus Peters, you said you _dated_ this chick?” One of the other officers, Greene, asked. “You sure know how to pick ‘em.”  
Francis was tuned out by this point.   
Everything Raven told him was starting to add up. She was so much _more_ injured than he was.   
As if she wasn't the _attacker_.   
And why would she accept a ride home from him…?  
Unless he didn't give her an option.   
And the cell phone in the cab.  
The phone bothered him. A lot.   
He abandoned his empty styrofoam cup on the counter next to the coffee maker. He had some calls to make.   
  
Raven’s black eye had reduced in swelling over the three days. She could see out of it again.  
The hospital had given her a pair of cheaply made glasses so that she could at least see clearly during her stay. In addition to that, she no longer needed the sling on her previously dislocated right arm. She may need physical therapy. But they were going to see how she fared without it for a few days. So far so good.   
She wished she could see her family. She wished she could see the Bellics. Especially Niko and Katie. The little girl always made her happy.  
And she loved Niko. Her best friend.  
The sound of the door opening pulled her out of her thoughts, and her eyes darted upward to see Francis enter the room. Looking like he was on edge. Before she could sign to him and ask what was wrong, he dropped a cell phone into her lap.  
Her phone.   
_“How did you get this?”  
_ “I left work early today,” Francis replied, pulling up a chair and sitting beside the bed.  “I called every fucking cab company in the city. Including Roman’s. Went to every single cab depot in person. There were _a lot_ of missing phones and I couldn't remember what your case looked like. But only _one_ rang when I called it. And here we are.”  
She picked up the phone and tried to turn it on. The battery still had life. Several dozen notifications.   
Many of which were texts from Mallorie, Roman, and Niko wondering where she was and if she was okay.   
She opened up her text-to-speech app. _“You went to Roman. Does everyone know I'm here now?”  
_ “Yeah,” Francis said. “But I'm still working this out. You lost your phone in a cab. Peters gave you a ride home. But why would you _need_ a ride if you were in a cab? Why would you be in his car in the first place unless he _forced_ you in? Why are _you_ in a _hospital_ when he has maybe two scratches on him?”  
Raven set her phone down, letting Francis put the pieces together himself.   
  
Raven had been released from the hospital and booked on the sixth day.  
At the police station on the sixth day, Francis spotted Dan Peters in the break room again. He seemed to exclusively hang out in there instead of at his desk where the work was. Alone.   
“Hey Duponte,” he greeted.   
Francis offered a grunt in response. Moving to get an energy drink out of the vending machine. The shift was nearly over. He had kept his knowledge of the incident to himself. If things went according to plan, Raven's lawyer could get her off. This could be put behind them. Dan would face the system and have nothing to say for his behavior. And he would be arrested.   
“What, you lose _your_ voice too?” Dan joked.  
An obvious jab at Raven. His fist clenched at his side until he realized it. “Just not feeling talkative today, Peters.”  
“Yeah, what'd she tell you?”  
“Drop it.”  
“Hope you know she's exaggerating, man-- she's _crazy_.”  
Without skipping a beat, Francis strode halfway across to room to Dan and punched him in the face with his full strength, making Dan drop to the tiled floor and knocking over the flimsy table on the way down.   
“Say something about her again, motherfucker! __Do it! Fucking do it! ” Francis shouted, not caring if anyone outside of the break room could hear or see what was happening. And some did. A few officers stood in the doorway. Jaws dropped. Francis had never been the aggressive type- not that anyone had ever seen.   
And Peters was floored. Nursing his newly broken nose.   
Francis looked up, noticing the people watching. And then knelt down in front of Dan Peters to tell him something personally. “I know everything now. And if you tell anyone about what just happened in here, I'll burn you to the fucking ground.”  
Francis stood upright, brushed dust from the floor off of his uniform, and went to make a call. He had changed his mind in an instant.


	8. The Way You Want

A jail cell wasn't a place she ever really expected to end up, yet here she was.  
Wearing the orange outfit and a pair of slip on shoes. Her phone was gone again. No means of communication other than sign language- and many of the people she tried to speak with either didn't understand her or opted to ignore her.  
  
But this was short lived.  
  
Raven was shocked to hear from a cop that her bail had been paid and she was going home.  
After she got all of her clothes and personal belongings back, she was escorted outside of the holding area to see Niko waiting for her.  
Fresh tears sprung to her eyes and she ran to him, throwing her arms around him and burying her face in his jacket. Brazenly crying there in front of whoever passed by and clinging to him like he'd saved her life.  
“C'mon,” he said, starting to lead her outside. The less time she spent in there, the better. “I'm happy to see you too. But we have work to do.”  
Raven pulled back and nodded, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. She refused to let go of his arm until they were outside about to get into his car.  
  
Except they didn't go to her apartment.  
They went to his place on Albany Avenue. She didn't ask for an explanation. It was a place where she felt safe- and where the LCPD didn't have record of her staying.  
What was unexpected was when she saw Francis waiting for them.  
She gasped and strode over to her brother to hug him just as tight.  
“Gang’s all here,” Niko said.  
“Finally,” Francis said as Raven let him go. Clearly confused.  
_“What are you doing here?”_ She signed.  
“I wanted to let you know that I can't be named in any of this,” he began, arms crossed. He had taken off his uniform and switched clothes the moment he had gotten off that day. He left work early again. “And if either of you are as good as you claim to be, you can do it without anyone seeing you.”  
Raven's jaw dropped. _“Are you giving me the OK to kill him?”_  
“I'm saying to do what you have to do. It has nothing to do with me. And I'm saying not to do it _yet_. You just got out of jail today.”  
“I doubt anyone is going to miss the asshole,” Niko agreed, arms crossing. “They might not try too hard to find who killed him.”  
“Whether or not he was liked doesn't change anything," Francis said. "You'll be a cop killer. The city is gonna be hunting you down. They'll already know it was you because of how recent the incident was, but if we play this off, they'll _never_ find you. I'm not gonna pull the trigger for you on this. But I _am_ gonna tell you where to shoot.”  
_“This is going against everything you stand for. They'll investigate you.”_  
“I know. And when they pull me in for questioning, I won't have anything to tell them other than I can't control what you do and don't know where you are. That cocksucker fucked with my _family-_ and had the fucking nerve to act like it was a joke. You're the only sister I have, Raven. And I know you'd do the same for me.”  
  
When planning was completed, Francis left to go home.  
He would explain the situation to their parents tonight. And they would have to cope with it and let it happen.  
Raven sat by on the couch in Niko’s apartment, head in her hands.  
This plan would take her entire life from her.  
Francis, her parents, Roman and Mallorie, Katie, Niko-  
Things would never be the same. Essentially, starting her entire life over at age twenty seven.  
“Are you doing okay?” Niko asked, bringing her a glass of water. She couldn't remember the last time she had any, and she drained the entire glass within seconds. She had been feeling almost sick from how much she needed it.  
And she shook her head.  
_“Not even close.”_ Her phone read her answer aloud for her.  
He sat down next to her. Unsure of what he could say to make any of this better.  
_“I need to go to my apartment.”_ She wrote. _“I haven't had clean clothes in almost a week.”_  
  
It was dark by the time they reached Bohan. Chills ran up her spine when she saw traces of her own dried blood on the tiles at the bottom of the stairs. She was glad to never come back here after tonight.  
_“I can be here alone for the night,”_ her phone read as she unlocked the door of her apartment. The landlord had been kind enough to lock it after she had been taken to the hospital. Nobody had broken in since then.  
“Are you sure?” Niko asked. Concern clear on his face.  
Raven felt like she looked like a mess. Bruising on her eye and cheek, lip still partially swollen. Messy hair. _“I'd rather not be seen like this much longer.”_  
He seemed hesitant to leave her. “... You can call me if you need me. I won't be far.”  
She nodded her thanks and pulled him into another tight embrace before he left.  
In truth, she needed time to herself so that she could break down without an audience.  
  
It was three in the morning when she next woke up.  
In her own bed, alone. Warm and comfortable for the first time in a week.  
Something felt off. Like she wasn't alone.  
A glance around her bed showed, even in the dim moonlight through the blinds, that she _was_ alone in the apartment.  
Still, she couldn't shake the feeling. She got out of bed and decided to get dressed. Some fresh air might help. It was cold outside. She thought the chill in the air would feel nice anyhow.  
She debated taking the gun beside the bed with her.  
But didn't.  
The stairs creaked under her boots on the way down. And she tried not to look at the old blood on the floor. Instead cracking the front door open and spotting Niko sitting on the front steps.  
He didn't bother to look back when the light from inside the hallway illuminated the concrete around him. Instead he saw Raven’s shadow in the light waving a silent hello.  
“Shouldn't you be asleep?” He asked.  
She let the door fall shut and sat next to him. She pointed at him. Asking _‘shouldn't you?’_  
He noticed her shiver in the night air. Not wearing any extra layers to keep warm, just having pulled the sleeves of her shirt down past her fingertips.  
“I said I'd be nearby,” he replied.  
She nudged him, insisting that wasn't an actual answer.  
“Okay, I couldn't sleep,” he said. “Decided I'd go for a drive.”  
_And end up on my doorstep?_  
A sharp wind chilled her in an instant and she wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm. In truth she loved it. Just being outside for the first time in days.  
“Aren't you cold?” He smirked.  
Raven shook her head. Fighting off shivers.  
“Yes you are,” he sighed, noticing that their breath came out as steam in the chilled air. He took off his top layer- his heavy brown jacket- and put it around her shoulders.  
Raven rolled her eyes but accepted it, smiling gratefully. It was warm from wear, and comforting. It smelled like him- admittedly like generic detergent and bar soap, but it was nice. He was nice.  
She signed her thanks, and it didn't take a genius to understand.  
“No problem,” he said.  
Things were quiet for a few minutes as they listened to the city. Stray cats yowling I'm alleyways, the distant sound of a car alarm, people a few blocks away having loud conversations with lots of loud laughter.  
“How come you came outside?” He asked.  
Raven shrugged and mouthed the words _“Why did you come here?”_  
“I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he said. “You were shaken up today. I thought you shouldn't be alone.” Especially after he had _just_ seen her that day she was hurt.  
After Kate McReary died, he couldn't stand the thought of losing another dear friend to the fucked up mess that was Liberty City. It would kill him. If he had to stand watch outside her home every night, he would. As long as she was safe.  
Raven smiled at him and then turned her sights out to the empty street. Not a soul in sight but the two of them. He looked out for her even when there wasn't an apparent danger, and she loved him for it. It meant so much.  
So she showed appreciation in a way she deemed appropriate. She leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek, head leaning against his shoulder just after to hide the sad smile on her face.  
He chuckled and his arm snaked around her waist to keep her close by.  
And kissed the top of her head.  
  
It's too bad when things don't work out the way you want.  
  
The following morning, everything was in place. Ready to go.  
Raven stopped to say goodbye to her parents and left her phone with them with the instructions to wipe it of fingerprints and dispose of it at a random spot in the city. Simply so that it couldn't be traced back to her and no memory could be pulled from the app she used to facilitate speaking.  
It was a teary goodbye, and Chandler and Regina both thanked Niko profusely for helping her when she needed it most. And they said they were proud of Francis for going above and beyond to resolve this issue the way the Dupontes knew best.  
Raven had been weepy through the entire day. Especially when she had to say goodbye to Mallorie, Roman, and Katie afterward.  
The plane ticket in her pocket was for N. Bellic. A name airport security wouldn't look twice at in a situation where they're looking for a known suspect. Especially since Liberty City’s TSA was too lazy to really look into things.  
San Andreas was her destination. An island state where it was easy to lose track of someone on the move.  
The idea to even go there at all came from a friend she had online. They'd talked a lot about racing cars- something she wanted to try out on an open road. And San Andreas had many open roads. He said his name was Lamar.  
  
“There's no turning back if you go through with this,” Niko said as he pulled the car up a few blocks from Dan Peters’ home. “If you stick with the legal means, you could stay.”  
_“I know,”_ she signed.  
Peters wasn't allowed to live anymore. He threw that privilege away by being a waste of a life.  
Twice he laid a hand on her. His life continuing meant he could do the same to some _other_ poor woman.  
And he was a detriment to Francis’ career. Her brother had risked enough for her already. She would repay somehow- starting with relieving the burden of dead weight.  
  
Raven would do this alone. She was familiar with the layout of this block, and had her exit strategy. Niko would wait for her in the car.  
She didn't look conspicuous. Just looking like she was out for a walk that night. Hands in her pockets. She would have nothing but the clothes on her back and the money in her pocket after today.  
She felt like she was going to be sick with nerves when she walked up the steps to Dan’s apartment. He lived on the ground floor. That would make escape easier.  
  
Los Santos better be a nice, relaxing place to make up for all of this.  
  
Raven's hand froze over the door, debating on whether knocking was even a good idea or if she should just break in.  
She had to get him out somehow...  
And it was now or never.  
Jaw anxiously clenched, Raven knocked on the door hard enough to make her knuckles hurt. And didn't stop until she heard the tumblers of the lock shifting.  
When the door opened, Dan’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw Raven Duponte glaring at him.  
“Fuck do you want? Did you come to beg me not to throw the book at you?” He asked. Smirk on his face. The fact that she showed up with a still fading black eye made him believe that she came to bargain with him.  
Raven made no efforts to say anything. Instead quickly sliding a pistol from the inside of her jacket and pointing it in his face.  
Quick and clean without hesitation.  
She pulled the trigger.  
The gun went off.  
And Officer Dan Peters was no more.  
Gun still in hand, Raven fled the scene in the alleyways between buildings- finding Niko on the other side in his car and quickly getting in.  
  
At the airport, Raven bought herself a burner phone with her last bit of cash out of her own wallet. Her parents had given her an envelope with cash to get her started, and she wanted to hold off on using it for as long as she could. Five thousand dollars to her name and nothing more. She would cut up any cards she had once she landed.  
Niko waited with her for her plane to board.  
And for the longest time, they said nothing.  
Bitter that things ended this way.  
They never even so much as had one night together. A thought that had crossed her mind many times. His too, she’d always hoped.  
_“Boarding call for flight C-453, Los Santos International.”_  
Dread set into her veins as her flight was called over the intercom. Before this moment it seemed like they'd had all of the time in the world.  
“That's you,” Niko muttered, standing up out of his seat next to her.  
Raven bit her scabbed lip hard enough to feel the sting of the cut re-opening as she stood up.  
New phone out of her pocket, she quickly typed out one last message for him.  
_“I want you to know that I'm going to miss you more than anybody else here. You're the best friend I ever had.”_  
He had to look away from her for a moment, as if reminding himself that he couldn't ask her to stay. So much to say and no time left to say it. “I know.”  
She struggled to type out more, hands trembling. This was the end.  
_“I love you.”_  
The pained expression on his face couldn't be hidden anymore, and he pulled her in tightly.  
“I love you too.”


	9. Something With An N.

N. Bellic.  
_N._  
She could make up a new name for herself to keep herself anonymous in her new location. Why _not_ something with an N?  
With a napkin and a pen she'd accidentally taken from check in, Raven started listing out N names during her flight.  
Natalie.  
Nina.  
Nadine.  
Nadia.  
Nicole.  
Nora.  
None of them seemed right. And if she was gonna pick a new name, it was going to have to be _right_.  
“Writing down baby names?” The old woman beside her asked. Unbeknownst to Raven, she had been trying to think of _why exactly_ an obviously battered young woman was listing out names on a napkin.  
Raven gave a half-shrug, half-nod.  
“Can I see what you have so far?”  
Raven passed her the napkin.  
“Let's see… You must really be set on N names. What's that last one? Nona?”  
Raven was about to shake her head… But she liked the sound of Nona.  
It sounded cute. Simple. Not especially common.  
Then it was decided.  
She was going to be Nona from now on.  
  
When she landed in Los Santos early in the morning, she sent a message to a burner phone her dad had bought- just so she could communicate with family until things in Liberty City cooled off.  
Only through untrackable phones.  
_“I made it.”_  
And better yet, she was able to get ahold of her contact in the city.  
Lamar Davis- who seemed excited to host her for her unexpected visit.  
Carrying her no longer needed jacket out of the terminal, she spotted him standing outside of his car- holding a single rose.  
“God _damn_ , girl you fine as a motherfucker!”  
_Well, he certainly had a way with words._  
“I mean that like not in like a stalker type way or nothing-” he handed her the rose. “I’m just- I’m just sayin’ like, you do look good-”  
He halted when she tossed the rose onto the ground, less than interested in being hit on the moment she landed. Lamar didn’t know about her ordeal a week ago, but she didn’t have to explain it to him. No one had to know a thing.  
After a couple more attempts to get ‘Nona’ to warm up to him, he decided it wasn’t going anywhere and decided to be friends instead.  
He had room at his house for her to stay until she found a place. He also set her up with his friend Gerald- who was looking for someone willing to work.  
  
_February, 2013_.  
The clock struck midnight, and it was her twenty eighth birthday.  
After enough scrimping and saving over the last couple of months; and after more than a little bit of dirty work for someone named Martin Madrazo, as well as one of Lamar's contacts named Gerald, Nona was able to afford a small apartment in Vespucci Canals. It was dirty and a little run down.  
Not ideal, but it was a place to come to every night to rest.  
Speaking of rest, it was difficult to get a decent night of sleep when you were homesick.  
Lying in her bed, Nona stared at the unpleasantly bright screen of her phone.  
At an empty outgoing message. To Niko.  
She remembered her twenty fourth birthday. And how she'd asked to kiss him. There was no more of that now.  
What could she even say to him? She would most likely never get to see him again, so was it wrong to talk to him? It felt like she would be stringing him along. Long distance was horrible-  
Her screen suddenly exited the message app, receiving a call from an unknown number.  
It’s _midnight_ , who the fuck could be calling?  
She tapped the screen and brought the phone to her ear.  
  
An invitation to meet someone in their home seemed sketchy- given she knew only a small handful of people in Los Santos even now.  
The low-end housing in El Burro Heights didn’t exactly look like good tidings late at night.  
The house had security cameras all over it.  
Careful to park just out of range of the cameras’ sights, Nona stepped out of her car and walked up the steps to the address that was sent to her just an hour ago.  
She rang the doorbell, and stared up at the camera that faced the door- it even turned to look straight at her.  
_“I was wondering when you’d show up.”_ A man’s voice came from a speaker attached to the mounted surveillance, and seconds later she heard the tumblers in the front door unlock.  
She let herself inside.  
Cramped, cluttered, and not recently cleaned, Nona glanced around the entryway and followed the only open doorway to spot more of the same- as well as a fat, thinly haired man in a wheelchair.  
“Welcome to Paradise,” he greeted in an oddly familiar, cheerful tone. Like he knew her. “If your idea of paradise is a place where a sick, creepy voyeur can spy on anyone in the country with total impunity.”  
Nona looked around the room as she approached. He was alone.  
“Actually, I guess that _is_ kind of the American Dream, huh...” He thought aloud.  
She looked past him for a moment to see cameras mounted inside of his house as well.  
“Anyhow, I digress- you have made a big name for yourself.”  
_Since when?_  
“And that name is Dangerous Idiot, who is just waiting to get robbed. So do yourself a favor and put some of that not-so-hard-earned-money into real estate. Then you can be a real player, just like me.”  
Nona nodded along with him, just to give the impression she was paying attention, and leaned against a desk containing _much_ more surveillance equipment.  
“Oh Jesus, as I say that, I realize how depressing and pathetic I’ve become,” he said in a light, joking tone. “I’m a mess, y’know, take pity on me,”  
Raven nodded her understanding and hoped that was the end of the self-deprecating humor.  
It was not. “End it now, kill me! Argh!” He feigned a laugh, and Nona awkwardly rolled her eyes to look away from him.  
_Yikes._  
“... _I_ thought it was funny… Okay, well, like I said. Put some of that money into property.”  
Nona nodded and stood upright once more to head for the door. Anything to escape this awkward moment accompanied by all of the Princess Robot Bubblegum posters and mint condition action figures taped onto the walls.  
“There’s already people who wanna rob you, and soon enough they’ll be people who wanna kill you.” She stopped when he mentioned that. “If anybody gets particularly _fresh_ , gimme a shout, I can put a bounty on ‘em. And every whackjob in the state will wanna get ‘em off your back for you.”  
Nona nodded again and tried to excuse herself once more- stopping _again_ when the man had something else to say. “Of course- you never know… Maybe someone asked me to do it to you.”  
She narrowed her eyes at him. A signal that if he crossed her, she would know where to find him.  
“Well… That was awkward...”  
She was halfway out the door when he called her back again. “By the way!” He said, just before she stepped outside. “I’m Lester. And you’re….?”  
She signed _‘mute’_ to him.  
“Oh, you’re mute!” He said. “I thought you just weren’t talking as a-- a _stylistic_ choice. Thought you were going for the whole ‘mysterious stranger blows into town’ kinda thing,” he chuckled. “And uh- I understand sign language, by the way. If that’s easier for you than just standing around like a--” he motioned to her red Liberty City hoodie. “Really tall, really _red_ ninja.”  
_“Finally, someone who knows ASL,”_ Nona signed in reply.  
“Yup, yup, I know it,” Lester nodded, seeming pleased with himself. “So- what can I call you? Because as soon as you get yourself a decent place to live, I might have some work for you. Not small time stuff, I might add. You’ll be making big bucks.”  
_“Call me Nona.”_  
“‘ _Non-a my business?_ ’” He guessed. “‘Anon’ spelled backward? ‘NO-NAme’? ”  
_“Whatever you want it to be, I guess.”_


	10. An Ace Up My Sleeve

A few more months of work.  
Working for Lester Crest, Madrazo, and Lamar in that time had left Nona decently well off.  
So she was able to move into a different building- a nicer apartment out in town. Richards Majestic.   
Living on a high floor in the tall building, Nona often overlooked her view of the street below- and thought of Liberty City. She always wanted a place to live that was like this back home.   
This was lonely.   
And she wanted a fucking cigarette. But she wasn't going to smoke in her apartment. The windows didn't open, though.   
Maybe she should consider quitting.   
  
The sunrise over the horizon was so beautiful.  
She often woke up early to watch it. She was four hours behind Liberty City's time zone.  
She slipped her phone out of her back pocket and snapped a photo of the skyline.   
Sent to Niko.   
_“The view from my place is amazing.”  
_ She received a reply a few minutes later. A photo of the view from Niko’s window in his apartment. _“It would be better if you were here.”  
_ A text from Lester came afterward.  
 _"_ _Expect a knock on your door. I have a job for you.”  
_ Great.  
  
It was late into the night that the knock finally came, and Nona had been beginning to doze off in front of the TV when the sound woke her. Quickly getting up from the couch, she nearly tripped going up the three stairs that led to the front door- swinging it open to find a young blonde woman at the door.  
“Hi…” She said slowly, noticeably tensing when she laid eyes on Nona.  
Nona felt taken aback as well. She was pretty. With brilliant blue eyes, hair cut in a mop style and neatly swept toward her left hand side.   
“Lester told me to come here,” the blonde said in a soft Southern accent. “I'm Auri. Everybody back home calls me Ace, ‘cause I always have an ace up my sleeve!” She pulled up the sleeve of her worn denim jacket to reveal a wristband with an ace of spades embroidered into it.  
 _Auri_.   
She loved that name immediately.   
Nona moved aside in the doorway for her to enter.  
Ace immediately wondered why her new partner wouldn't speak. “You don't talk much, huh?”  
Nona decided to take the chance and sign that she was mute. A new way to see if she would be wasting her phone battery by using it as her go-to.  
“Wait, shit, you can't talk at all?”  
Nona shook her head and signed her name.   
“Nona,” Ace repeated. “I like that name… And I like your glasses.”  
Nona smiled a little bigger than she meant to, pushing her new Perseus frames further up her nose. She'd taken a chance with the cat eye frames- nice to see that someone liked them.  
  
Heist planning was easy- but execution was a little more complicated than putting pins into a map of San Andreas.  
Nona and Ace were wracked with jitters as they drove a stolen, bullet riddled Kuruma through Los Santos- their destination being the factory building Lester owned.  
They _had_ expected to be shot at. But not by _that many people_.  
“I'm gonna fuckin’ crash tonight-" Ace said quickly, a few tense minutes after the bullets had stopped coming. They pulled into the factory's parking lot and drove under the bridge. “I'm gonna sleep _so_ fuckin’ heavy after this and I'm gonna take tomorrow off to-" She looked over at Nona. “Are you okay?”  
Nona hadn't realized she'd begun staring at Ace until she'd said something. Seeming to have to shake off the moment so she could nod her affirmation.   
She was fine… And starting to think Ace was pretty _fine_ herself.   
Cute and a decent shooter.   
Not bad.  
 _“Where did you learn to shoot like that?”  
_ “Used to be a Marine,” Ace replied. “Got adsep’d a while ago.”  
 _“What's that?”  
_ “I got kicked out for bein’ a piece of shit.”  
 _“Oh.”  
_ “It's alright. I think I like this more. More fun when it's not the fuckin’ _government_ fat cats telling me who to shoot at… What about you, where’d you learn to do that? I saw you nail at least ten headshots.”  
 _“Not important.”  
_ Ace chuckled. “I think I __like you.”  
  
It took two more days to figure out the best time to pull off the robbery.  
On a Sunday afternoon when security was low and customer count was lower, Nona and Ace were successfully able to steal paperwork from a specified safety deposit box that would eventually convert into money in their bank accounts.   
  
When the car parked under the bridge beside the factory, Nona felt like she could finally exhale, slumping over in the passenger seat of the Kuruma with the stolen bonds, in a duffel bag, tightly clutched against her body.   
Ace tightly gripped the steering wheel, only just starting to come down from the adrenaline.  
Their first bank robbery ever.   
A success.   
“I hated every fuckin’ minute of that,” Ace said. “You okay?”  
Nona nodded, giving her the OK gesture and leaning her head back against the back of her seat with an exasperated sigh.   
Ace reached over and gave her an encouraging pat on the knee. “I know, hun. Me too… Ugh.”  
It had taken a moment to realize that Ace’s hand hadn’t left her knee yet.  
But they seemed to notice simultaneously, and Ace took back her hand.  
“Sorry, um-” she mumbled, cheeks pink. A cute color on her.  
Nona just adored her blue eyes.  
They just… Kept staring at each other.  
Until they noticed they were moving closer and closer…  
Until they had kissed.

  
Nona woke up with a stretch and the first deep inhale of the morning.   
A month later.   
She woke up to a text from Niko. A picture of himself and some girl he had started seeing recently. He said he liked her enough, but it wasn’t really anything serious.   
Still not one to let anyone too close.   
Nona sent her reply to him, saying they looked happy. And that she wished him the best and still missed being able to just hang out all together.   
Ace was still asleep beside her when she set her phone back onto the mattress. Freshly dyed pink hair bright against the white pillowcase. A new look for her.   
They’d experimented with cosmetic changes lately. Ace dyed her hair, Nona had gotten a tattoo of the Statue of Happiness- as a skeleton. On her right shoulder, down to her elbow.    
It was true what they said, tattoos were addictive. She only wanted more.   
Nona left the bed, pulling on clothes on her way out to the living room. She turned on Weazel News first thing in the morning, listening to a story about a biker gang in Blaine County as she made coffee for herself. Ace would likely sleep through the day until she went to go work on her pot farm.   
She apparently had a warehouse near Sandy Shores where she was setting up what she described as ‘where the best skunk in San Andreas would be grown’.   
Nona hadn’t seen much of Ace lately because of it. Late nights and long days in Sandy Shores working on gathering supplies and planting and maintaining. She had a staff of growers, but she was often there to oversee that it was all going as planned.   
Nona had never been out to that area of the state. She hadn’t gone farther out past the city than the Vinewood sign in the hills.   
  
Except for around a week ago when she’d accompanied a group of fellow criminal misfits to steal an RV that functioned as a rolling meth lab.   
But that was business. Gerald had paid well for it.    
It made her able to afford a Kuruma of her own. An older model- a 2008. Black. It was better than the old Washington she drove before.   
Ace’s phone rang on the kitchen counter, and Nona noticed the name ‘LJT’ on the screen. She chose to ignore it. Surely Ace would be up soon enough to answer it.   
And, as if on cue, Ace darted out of the bedroom, struggling to pull on a pair of plaid pajama pants without tripping on her way to the kitchen- and fumbled her phone as she struggled to answer on time.   
“D’you know what fuckin’  _ time  _ it is?  _ Dickhead? _ ” She spoke into the phone, exasperated. Hair a mess, hanging in front of her eyes. She sighed as the person on the other end of the line spoke, rubbing her tired blue eyes. “Uuuuuuggggghhhhhh  _ fuuuuuck me _ . Fine. I’m on my way out there. I’ll fuckin’ fix it.” She ended the call and set her phone back on the counter.   
_ “What was that about?” _ Nona signed.   
“Work,” Ace answered. “The growhouse needs me. I’m probably gonna be gone a couple days to sort this fuckin’ mess out.”   
  
Ace got herself ready for a long weekend in Blaine County, packing up some clothes in a duffel bag and call it good enough. “I live out there, so it shouldn’t be  _ too _ shitty of a weekend,” she said. “I’ll keep my phone on me so we can keep talkin’.”   
Nona nodded, smiling against Ace’s lips when they kissed goodbye.   
It bothered her sometimes that Ace didn’t make more time for her. But she was just as guilty. Practically attached to Lester at the hip when it came to running jobs. And there was much work to be done in San Andreas. It was how she was able to afford the apartment.   
  
On the second day of Ace’s absence, Nona was lying in bed late at night- ready to sleep.   
Until her phone rang beside her ear and woke her from her blissful comfort.   
With an unknown caller.   
_ Ugh. This better not be a wrong number. _   
With a sigh, she tapped the screen and held the device up to her ear.   
_ “Helloooo, this is a courtesy call from Trevor Philips Industries to tell you that you’ve messed up. Very badly.” _ _   
_ _ Who the fuck is Trevor Philips? _   
_ “My boss is very angry and you really would not like him when he’s angry. He insists you come to our HQ in Sandy Shores and explain yourself. He told me to tell you to bring knee pads and mouthwash.” _ _   
_ _ What a fucking dick. _ _   
_ _ “Not sure what that means, but I would hurry over now if I were you. Which, right now, I’m glad I’m not.” _ __   
Whoever he was hung up before she could even give a semblance of a response.   
… God damn it.   
Might as well get this over with.


	11. A Man Of God

It took hours and most of a tank of gas to get from Los Santos to Sandy Shores, and Nona was exhausted when she arrived. Hands in the pockets of her jeans, she scrutinized the run-down trailer from behind the wheel of her car. At least what she could see in the porch lights. There were not many street lights in Sandy Shores from what she could see.  
An untraceable pistol tucked into the back of her pants, she exited the car and headed up toward the trailer. Everything about this was sketchy. But she’d at least see what the motherfucker wanted.  
  
“This is… This is that woman!”  
The same voice she’d heard on the phone greeted as soon as she pushed open the door to the trailer. Greeted by the sight of two older men who looked run down from years of addiction. Even the filthy trailer looked better than the two of them did.  
“I _know_ who this is, Ronald,” the taller one said in a gravelly voice. Balding, scruffy, wearing dirty, sweat stained clothing. Nona immediately thought of some of the homeless heroin junkies that often asked for money around Liberty City.  
And this guy… Must have been Trevor.  
“You!” He began, pointing a finger at her. “You _disgust_ me!”  
Ugh.  
“You- what kind of a _sick_ harridan are you, huh?” He got up in her face, seeming to wait for her to react in some way. Instead she leaned away from him a little. Unhappy with how he smelled. “You come here, and you walk around this state like you own it-” he paced in front of her, Ron hovering behind him at all times just in case he needed a lackey to emphasize his words. ”You never write, you never call- I mean, you never even send a welcome basket or maybe a nice plate of cookies.”  
Did he think she was trying to rival whatever his company was?  
“Or… Not even an inappropriate selfie of your _tits!_ ”  
She couldn’t help but roll her eyes at that.  
“But…!” He continued as she looked back to him. Lowering his tone. “I love you.”  
_What the fuck._  
“Really, I love you. You’re like the close female friend I’ve always wanted. You’re like that _eager_ soldierette I’ve always needed, so it’s time to start repaying your debt to society.” He began raising his voice again, as if he thought it was going to motivate her. “And you can start by dealing with the terrible harm you’ve done to local businesses- _especially mine!_ That was _my_ fucking RV you lifted and I had grown real fuckin’ sentimental for it! There’s no bringing it back from whatever shit hole chop-shop it's in now, so you’re gonna have to repay me by building the fucking business. Welcome to Fucking Trevor Philips Enterprises.”  
_Didn’t your guy say it was ‘Industries’?_ Nona thought, glancing past him at Ron.  
“Well?” Trevor asked. “Are you gonna fucking _thank_ me for giving you a chance to redeem yourself?”  
_“I can’t speak.”_ She signed.  
“Why the sign language, did I just fucking waste time explaining shit to a deaf person?”  
She shook her head. _“I’m mute, you dumb grimy fuck.”_ _  
_ “Oh, so you just can’t talk...” He said, seeming to look her over. “Must be real boring in the sack.”  
_You’ll never get to know.  
_ “Whatever,” Trevor had already moved on from the subject, pushing her toward the door by her shoulder. “Now go, go on!”  
  
Phone reception was so weak in Sandy Shores that it proved impossible to try to navigate back to Los Santos.  
But San Andreas wasn’t a _huge_ island, Nona figured her best option was to pick a direction and follow it. The highway encircled the entire island, so she would run into it sooner or later.  
She chose West. Away from the rising sun.  
On and on, the desert seemed without end- especially because her car was  _very_ low on gas. The only station in Sandy Shores was waiting on a refill.  
And without signal on her phone, she couldn’t call Ace for help. So she just kept going west along the Zancudo River-- until her car had stopped. Somewhere around Great Chaparral.  
No gas stations in sight.  
No phone reception-- in fact, no battery left either. It died trying to find some bars.  
Not even any cars passing by to hitchhike.  
She didnt _want_ to leave the Kuruma, but...  
  
Already a mile or two from the car, Nona had spotted a church on a hilltop beside the road.  
And a parking lot full of unattended cars now that it was early Sunday Morning.  
Fuck, _thank you_.  
Tired and overheated from the burning sun overhead, she trotted uphill to the church’s parking lot.  
The first vehicle she found was an old, deep red Buccaneer. Possibly the worst car in the lot- but it would be easiest to break open and get started.  
The doors were unlocked, so she let herself into the driver's seat, hunched over to hotwire the vehicle.  
She wasn't _quite_ good at it yet- Niko had shown her a faster way once but she couldn't remember it at that moment… Damnit.  
“Nice car,” a deep voice to her left greeted- making her jump and twist in the owner's direction. An older black man had leaned against the vehicle. Shaved head. Thick mustache. Kind eyes. “I came out to grab somethin’ for my daughter. New mother, getting pulled in every direction- you know how it is. I don't think I saw you inside for the sermon?”  
Nona shook her head. Already trying to plan out how to get to Los Santos from here. As soon as he would leave, she-  
“I see,” he nodded, patting the roof of the vehicle. “So what kind of mileage does this get?”  
Nona shrugged, humoring him with a smile.  
“Oh, you don't know?” He chuckled. “Well... _I do_. ‘Cause this is _my_ car.”  
Her expression dropped. And she wondered if she was in for a fight.  
“Look, ma’am,” he said. “I can see it on your face: you need help. And because I’m a man of God, I believe in helping people in need regardless of circumstances. But I need you to be honest with me-” He leaned against the open car door. “Are the police looking for you?”  
She immediately wanted to say that she wasn’t. But that was technically untrue. She wished she could explain it to him better. Her phone had died from all of its efforts to find a signal. And she had left her only charger at home. Fuck.  
“Can you not speak?”  
She shook her head, confirming that she couldn’t.  
“I understand sign language if that makes it easier. I teach it to kids in Sunday school. Picked it up in the Army.”  
_Thank god-_ _  
__“I ran from the LCPD to come to San Andreas,”_ she admitted. _“A cop attacked me. And I killed him for it. I’m just trying to go back to Los Santos. My phone is dead, I can’t call my girlfriend. No one else here can help me.”  
_ “Well…” The man sighed, glancing into the back seat of the car, where the diaper bag he came out for was laying in between two pink car seats. Had she not noticed them in her panic? “If you can stick around for the rest of the service, I can give you a ride to Los Santos. Which part are you headed to?”  
_“Rockford Hills. The Richards Majestic building.”  
_ The man nodded. “Alright,” he stepped back from the car door and allowed her to get out.  
_“I’m sorry.”_ _  
_ “Times are hard these days. Even police aren't trustworthy,” he replied with an understanding nod, leading the way back into the church. She followed beside him. He offered her his hand. “Arthur Graves.”  
She shook his hand. _“Nona.”  
_ “No last name?”  
_“Not anymore.”  
  
_ It was awkward to sit in the back seat between two infants. Graves had two new granddaughters- twins, only a month old. His daughter sat in the front seat beside him.  
“So, Nona, is this your first time in the church?” She asked. Her name was Kamisha, and she was twenty two and newly married to an airman who was stationed in Fort Zancudo.  
Nona gave her a smile and a nod, relieved that she hadn't taken this car after all.  
“Think you'll be coming back?” Kamisha asked.  
Nona shrugged signing in reply that she lived in Los Santos- but might make the drive every once in a while. Ending up there had been a lucky fluke.  
  
After Graves dropped the girls off at their home on the far side of Alamo Sea, he brought Nona to a gas station and circled back to where her Kuruma waited on the side of the road in Great Chaparral. Still unharmed.  
“If you're in Los Santos, what brought you out here?” Graves asked as Nona refueled her car with the gas can. She felt guilty for the long drive he’d taken for her. He didn’t live close to the church. And where her Kuruma had died out was even further out of the way.  
Once she set the empty canister down she answered him. _“I messed up. I stole something from this old guy- and he wants me to pay him back with work.”  
_ “What kind of work?”  
_“I don't know yet…”_ She looked at his vehicle. Old, ran poorly. Hanging on by threads. _“What do you do for a living?”  
_ “Retired military, stay at home husband,” Graves answered. “My wife is a nurse at the on-base hospital in Fort Zancudo. I usually help Kam with the kids.”  
Nona paused, hesitant to ask him for one more favor. _“Do you want to make some money?”  
_ Graves frowned. “I dunno. What do you need?”  
_“I could use help with whatever I need to do. And you have military experience.”  
_ “I’m gonna have to abstain,” Graves replied, moving back to his car. “It was nice meeting you.”  
Nona slapped the roof of her Kuruma to get his attention, and continued her offer once he turned back to her. _“Why do you live in the middle of nowhere? With thirty year old car?”  
_ “It’s what we can afford,” Graves said.  
_“I can make it so you can afford_ _better_ _.”  
_ Graves seemed to consider the idea for a moment. The siren call of money sounded sweet.  
A new home somewhere in Los Santos. Where the twins could grow up and go to a good school. Kam’s husband was soon to get out of the Air Force, and would need a job. And there were more opportunities in the city for someone who worked in aviation.  
He shook his head. “I don’t think I can take your offer, ma’am.”  
_“I’ll give you my number. Can you at least think about it?”_  
Graves seemed to hesitate- but the two ultimately exchanged phone numbers.  
It would be two weeks before he would contact her and ask if the offer was still available.  
For the sake of his family having the best of all that San Andreas could offer.


End file.
